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Friday, November 2, 2012

Mind Control: The Future of Prosthetics

I got my information from an article I read in a special issue of Discovery Magazine. Click the link below to read the original article.

Imagine prosthetic limbs that can be
controlled by the mind. Hugh Herr, sometimes referred to as a
real-life bionic man, is busy creating exactly that.

In January, 1982, Herr and a friend
went hiking on Mount Washington in New Hampshire. As they neared the
summit, the weather turned foul, and with dangerous gusts and limited
visibility, the two got lost. They were nearly dead when they were
found three days later. Both had severe frostbite and would need
amputations. Herr had both of his legs removed just below the knees,
which was devastating for the 17-year-old who was a gifted rock
climber. But rather than succumb to depression, Herr decided that he
would make the best of his situation. Beginning by taking his bulky,
plaster prosthetics and messing around with their design so that he
could feel as natural walking as he did climbing, Herr found passion
in creating better prosthetic technology.

Herr started by gluing climbing rubber
to the bottoms of his new legs rather than wearing climbing shoes.
Then he reshaped the feet themselves, reducing their size to give him
an advantage when standing on small footholds and rocks. He made
limbs that were height adjustable, which made it easier to reach
handholds on rock faces, and he made his legs extremely lightweight.
But that was just the beginning. Today he runs around Walden Pond on
motorized bionic limbs of his own design that adjust 500 times per
second.

His invention, the PowerFoot BiOM, is
the world's first robotic ankle-foot prosthesis, and in 2011, it was
released to the public. It is a considerable improvement over
previous prosthetic limbs, allowing users to push off the ground with
seven times the power of other prosthetic models while using less
energy, and it has the ability to react to changes in pace and
terrain. Herr's creation has had an incredible impact, but he is not
willing to stop there. His goal is to link bionic limbs directly to
the human nervous system, allowing users to control their artificial
limbs through thought.

Unlike other scientists and engineers
who are working on similar projects to connect man with machine, Herr
and two others, Todd Kuiken and Richard Weir, are experimenting with
nerve and muscle impulses rather than going directly into the brain
with mini electrodes. That is, nerves that once sent signals to the
feet are still there, they just don't have a place to send those
signals. Herr hopes that his prosthetics will change that. He also
hopes that as technology changes, so will attitudes. In the same way
that people who wear glasses are no longer considered handicapped, so
it will be for people with prosthetic limbs. “As the human machine
interaction becomes more sophisticated,” Herr says, “we will see
fewer and fewer disabilities. One day I will truly no longer be
disabled and may be augmented in some ways.”

What do you think? Can Herr's
mind-powered limbs become reality? If so, do you think they can be
produced so that the general public can afford them? What do
you think about improving attitudes by improving technology? Share
your thoughts! This is exciting stuff!Click to read the original article from Discovery Magazine.

1 comment:

This is very very interesting! It's a culmination of a lot of what I read about emerging prosthetic technology as well as muscle recognition and neural recognition technology. Very exciting to see how this can be put to use in disability services. Singularity Hub has other stories that are similar ideas: